22 July 06

Well, my Aunt Karin was gracious enough to allow Holli and I a night’s sleep. This helped tremendously, as our flight was at 6:45am. We met Larry, Carol, and Marissa shortly before 5:45am. We boarded the tiny plane and flew to Minneapolis.

Then we found Cari and Adam. Holli, Marissa, and I went to get breakfast. It took long because Marissa kept getting her beverage stolen by other customers at Starbuck’s.

Then we boarded and flew to New York. Flying in to La Guardia Airport is a little disconcerting because there’s water on both sides of the runway. Finally in, we got our luggage, found our shuttle bus driver, and a frenzy of picture-taking took place. That was just the drive. EVERYONE has a digital camera (Adam got his when we landed – he got Holli’s old one) which is kinda cool.

We couldn’t check in right away, so we walked to a little restaurant (Cosmic Diner or something) and had lunch. I experimented with long exposure pictures. Then we went back and checked in. Once ready we ventured into New York City. First we saw Rupert from Hello Deli near the CBS Store. Then we stopped at the store. I spyed Eugene O’Neill Theatre, named after the famous American Playwright who was born in Times Square.

We walked by Rockerfeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, steaming manholes (not this kind), and sidewalk salesmen. I took some photos for a panograph. Saw NBC studios. Finally, we arrived at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Our original idea for mass for Holli and I was The Actor’s Chapel, but we decided to walk down to St. Patrick’s instead. While we massed, the others shopped. Brilliant “Toccatta” at the end.

Then we saw Trump Tower across the street, the Soup Nazi’s store (called The Original Soupman), a neat AMD ad, a musical based on Anne Rice’s novel Lestat (called “Lestat”), and a broken Dakt sign in Times Square.

For supper we first opted for Hard Rock Cafe, which had lots of Beatles stuff, but then we moved to ESPNZone. Here we got yelled at, they made us wait an hour, they made Marissa and Carol upset, and then they never checked in on our table, and we had to ask other servers to fetch our waiter. I was much less than pleased, but all I’ve expected from sports jocks is bully behavior.

We walked back, got wet, went to the MTV store, took pictures in Times Square, saw a Church of Scientology, and finally in for bed.